The Marquette University men’s tennis team (10-13) opened play at the 2012 BIG EAST Conference Championship with a 4-1 loss to St. John’s (17-7) Friday afternoon in Tampa, Fla.

The Golden Eagles are seeded sixth in the nine-team field and the Red Storm earned the No. 3 seed. Marquette will now face Georgetown at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday morning in the consolation bracket. The winner will advance to face the DePaul/Villanova winner.

St. John’s opened the match by claiming the valuable doubles point for an early 1-0 advantage. After posting an 8-5 victory at the No. 1 position, STJ earned the point by rallying for a 9-7 decision at the No. 3 spot. The MU tandem of senior Drake Kakar and freshman Vukasin Teofanovic was unable to close out a 6-3 lead as St. John’s won four-straight games to push ahead.

St. John’s jumped out to an early lead in singles, claiming the first set in five of the six matchups. The Golden Eagles tried to rally, but were able to collect just one point. Freshman Cameron Tehrani, making his postseason debut, downed STJ’s Kurt Anbarci 7-5, 6-4 in a spirited matchup at the No. 5 position.

Senior Jonathan Schwerin was in the third set in his contest at the No. 4 position and sophomore Logon Collins had claimed the second set in his match at the No. 3 spot.